Piper International
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RETURNING TO THE FRINGE IN 2026
THE BLOODY BALLAD OF BETTE DAVIS
Piper Theatre Productions returns to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe with The Bloody Ballad of Bette Davis, a camp horror musical fantasy set in 1970s Hollywood where the fading film icon battles the system, her daughter, and perhaps something even darker lurking beneath the surface.
The production will appear at Assembly Roxy Upstairs, Venue 139, from August 6–30, 2026 (not August 5, 13, 20 & 27), at 3:00 PM daily. The production marks Piper’s fifth appearance at the Edinburgh Fringe following acclaimed international productions including The Island of Doctor Moreau (Bobby Award, Best Play), Splitfoot, CADEL, Mother Sauvage in Malta, and The Lincoln Dress in Romania.
Book written and directed by John P. McEneny
Music and Lyrics by Rob Parker
“With its vibrant cast, terrific score, assured direction, fabulous costumes and zany staging, Bloody Ballad of Bette Davis will leave you bewitched.” — Fringe Review
Set during the twilight of Bette Davis’s legendary career, the musical blends close harmony, disco, rock, and wistful ballads inspired by Kander and Ebb and Elton John. With her star fading and finances dwindling, Davis reluctantly accepts a role in the now cult 1975 horror film Burnt Offerings. Though the movie is a haunted house horror, the real horrors occur off camera.
Tormented by a visit from her daughter B.D. Hyman, who accuses her mother of witchcraft, and locked in bitter conflict with co-stars Oliver Reed and Karen Black, Davis finds herself cornered by Hollywood, aging, family wounds, and memory itself. As the chaos escalates, this camp horror fantasia imagines what might happen if the legendary actress finally unleashed her alleged dark powers and fought back.
John P. McEneny said, “The show began with a childhood memory of Burnt Offerings, which I saw far too young and never quite forgot. It made me start wondering what moments of work, courage, or stubbornness actually survive after the lights go down.”
Before heading overseas, Piper will present two special U.S. preview performances in Brooklyn.
U.S. Preview Performances of The Bloody Ballad of Bette Davis
July 25 & 26 at 8:00 PM
Gallery Players
Tickets: $25
Featuring Aaron Novak, Coleson Berlin, Grace Olbinsky, Laura Dillman Frank, and Annie Meek Montgomery.
Edinburgh Fringe Information
Assembly Roxy Upstairs, Venue 139
2 Roxburgh Place, Edinburgh EH8 9SU
August 6–30, 2026 (not August 5, 13, 20 & 27)
3:00 PM – 4:00 PM daily
Running Time: 60 Minutes
Suitable for ages 12+
Instagram: @pipertheatre
#BloodyBalladofBetteDavis
Producer’s Circle
Jane Ashley and Meghann Ashley
Sarah Boink
Rebecca Boston
Mike Boyle
Martha Cooley
Bruce Goldman
Earl Jones
Kirsten Johnson
Fred Marshall
Diane Wilder
Rachael G. Jones, MD
Executive Producer
CREATIVE TEAM
John P. McEneny (DIRECTOR/WRITER) is the author of Mayla the Monkey Girl (Playscripts), Very Bad Girl Scouts, Two Houses, Grippe of October, We’ve Got Beth! (YouthPLAYS), as well as Cold April (Best Play Anthology, 2008 Strawberry Festival). Seven monologues from The Lincoln Dress appear in Applause’s 2020 Best Men’s Monologues and Smith & Krause’s 2020 Best Men’s and Best Women’s Monologues. His play Aposiopesis has been widely anthologized, including Smith & Krause’s Best Ten-Minute Plays 2013, Best Men’s Monologues 2013, Best Women’s Monologues 2014, and Best Audition Monologues for Young Men 2016. His play Pollywog was produced as part of NYU Steinhardt’s New Plays for Young Audiences (2014). His 2013 adaptation of The Island of Doctor Moreau was staged at 59E59 Theaters and the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, where it received Bobby’s Sixth Star Award for Best Play. His adaptation of Maupassant’s Mother Sauvage toured to the University of Malta in 2023. Other works presented at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe include Splitfoot (2018), CADEL (2025), and the books for the musical, Bloody Ballad of Bette Davis (2024, 2026). Additional plays include The Puppet Children, Midnight Circus, Hydra (with Rachel Rear), Maddie Splinter and the Aluminum Chair Rocket Ship, Hamelin, Wendy Darling and Peter Pan, Boy in the Iron Mask, and The Lincoln Dress (productions at Siena College and Un Teatru, Bucharest). He has also written the books for the musicals Gulch, Billy Ragamatag and the Shadow Circus, Yarn Barn, Whiskers in the Wall, Gorbal Wood, all with music and lyrics by Rob Parker. He holds an MA in Theatre in Education from NYU Steinhardt and an MA in Creative Writing from Edinburgh Napier University. He is the Artistic Director of Piper Theatre Productions in Brooklyn and spent 30 years as a drama teacher in the NYC DOE.
Robert Parker (COMPOSER/LYRICIST) is a composer and playwright, vocal, drama, and music educator who resides in Bedfordshire, England. His first show at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival was “Somewhere in Europe” in 1989, and this will be his 7th time showing at the fringe. For Piper, he has scored The Nocturnes, Clockwork Unwound, Paint it Black, Tragedy of Lear, Billy Ragamatag, Yarn Barn, We Got Beth, Gulch, Gorbal Wood, Whiskers in the Wall, Madame Sauvage (Malta 2023), The Bloody Ballad of Bette Davis (2024/2026), and Alice in Chaos (2024). Recent work in the UK includes Alice’s Adventures (SITW theatre 2026), Treasure Island (Swan Theatre 2026), The Great Siege of 1224 (Jackdaw Music 2024)(BA) Hertfordshire, (MA) Middlesex.
Annie Meek Montgomery (BETTE) Proud to be part of the Piper family. Past productions include: The Lincoln Dress at Un Teatru and Teatru Municipal Matei Visniec in Romania and Siena College, La Mere Sauvage at MCAST Theatre in Malta, Splitfoot and Bloody Ballad of Bette Davis at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Off-Broadway: That Ilk. Regionally: Man and Superman and Angels in America(Hangar Theatre), Walking Toward America (Springfield Contemporary Theatre) and Arms and the Man (George Street Playhouse). Film: Grant Herson’s Ugly Ducklings, Sharaf Younes, Check out at 11, Ken LaZebnik’s Revelations. See more about Annie at anniemeekmontgomery.com
Aaron Novak (DECKY / OLIVER / TED BESSELL) is happily returning to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival for the 4th time in 2026, and was previously a Co-Winner of a Bobby Award for The Island of Doctor Moreau in 2013. A Brooklyn-based actor, he has collaborated with Piper Theatre numerous times, in plays such as Hamlet, Frankenstein, Nocturnes, La Mere Sauvage, Tape, We Should Have Seen the Lights Already, Peter Pan & Wendy Darling, Splitfoot, and The Lincoln Dress. He has helped Piper bring productions to Scotland, Romania, and Malta and has directed productions of As You Like It, Beastmaster, and Rapunzel. He executive-produced the Television Pilot “Starting Out” which won Best Pilot at the 2016 LA Comedy Festival. With a B.A. in Theatre Arts from Bloomsburg University, he has trained Actors for Medical Education at Mount Sinai, Cornell, Rutgers, and Columbia University since 2014. Huge thanks and love to John McEneny, Rob Parker, the wonderful cast, crew, production staff, and everyone at Piper, Carolyn and the Kossows, and his fabulous friends and family! More info at aaronnovak.com.
Laura Dillman Frank (AMELIA / KAREN / PATSY / GOAT) is stoked to embark on another adventure with Piper! They were part of the first run of Bloody Ballad of Bette Davis and have also performed in Twelfth Night, Macbeth, Napalm/Sequins, and Can Cheese Doodles Do You Harm? They wrote the youth musical Presto and Zesto in Limboland, and the short play Bonnets and Brawls: The Nellie Oleson Story. They've done cartoon voice-overs, been a clown, vaudevillian, and worn Curious George's pelt. They adore spending summers in Brooklyn, teaching children the art of character improv. You may spot them around NYC singing and scratching the washboard with The Salt Cracker Crazies jugband. So much gratitude to John, Rachael, Justine, and the gang at Piper, who continue to rouse them from their slumber in the Hudson wildwoods. Love to their coven of upstate weirdos.
Coleson Berlin (DON) is a musical theatre performer based in Charlotte, NC, and a 2024 graduate of the American Musical and Dramatic Academy. His credits include the national tour of Golden Girls: The Laughs Continue (Blanche) and Hersheypark’s 2025 summer musical, Twizz’s Twisted Trivia (Ferris Wheeler). He is thrilled to bring the character of Don to life in The Bloody Ballad of Bette Davis at the Edinburgh Fringe this year.
Grace Olinski (B.D. / BILLIE / AGNETHA / DEMON SPIRIT 1) is thrilled to be joining the Piper family! Past roles include Halina in Indecent and Erica in Bright Half Life at Brooklyn College, and Johanna in Forebear with Patchworks NYC. An alumni of the BA Acting Course at LAMDA, the past few years for them have included working with 24 Hour Plays through their Nationals program, creating their show Triptych, which had its world premiere at the 2023 Denver Fringe Festival and received the Audience Choice Award, performing and studying with Butoh Theater Company Ren Gyo Soh, and teaching movement and body work to young artists. She is passionate about filling the world with weirder, queerer art!
LAST SUMMER @ THE FRINGE 2025
CADEL: Lungs on Legs
The epic true story of Cadel Evans, the first Australian to win the Tour de France, live on stage. Created b and starring Connor Delves, co-written by Steve McMahon and directed by Mark Barford. The grit, gears and glory of the most challenging road race on earth rode into Brooklyn for two previews ahead of a much anticipated season with Underbelly Cowgate at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, last August.
PIPER @ THE FRINGE SUMMER 2024:
THE BLOODY BALLAD OF BETTE DAVIS
Piper Theatre Productions was thrilled to return to C Venues and the Edinburgh Fringe Festival with the world premiere Horror Musical THE BLOODY BALLAD OF BETTE DAVIS. Step onto the set of the 1975 film "Burnt Offering," where the legendary Bette Davis grapples with age discrimination and clashes with the unruly spirit of "New Hollywood," embodied by Karen Black. “The talented cast of five put in an early bid for the Hardest Working Ensemble of the Fringe.” - The Recs, ★★★★ (4 stars)
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Piper’s Obligo team performed an original production of Mother Sauvage by Guy de Maupassant at the University of Malta. The company conducted four workshops at the University on Grotowski’s physical theatre principals and the work of Cecily O’Neill and Process Drama.
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Performed at Un Teatru in Bucharest and Teatrul Municipal Matei Vișniec in Suceava
(August 4, 5, 6, 12, 13, 2022)
Featuring: Vasile Flutur, Annie Meek Montgomery, Eduard Buhac, Aaron Novak
Puppet Design by Theresa Linnihan / Dress Design by Sophie Dorio, Sarah Millward
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Directed by John P. McEneny, Stage Management by Carolina Do, Sound Design by Vasile Flutur,
Performed at Romanian Cultural Institute (April 2016) AMERICAN PREMIERE and Un Teatru in Bucharest
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by John P. McEneny and Vasile Flutur, Directed by John P. McEneny, Music by Dario Eskenazi. Technical Director Rachel Syzmanski.
East of Edinburgh Festival (59E59) and C Venues Edinburgh Fringe Festival
(Aug 2015) Featuring: Annie McCoy, Vasile Flutur, Annie Montgomery, Aaron Novak, Anne Windsland.
Poster by Adi Bulboaca.
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Devised by Michael Buffer, Chris Cariker, Vasile Flutur, Eiko Kawashima, Mollie Lief, John P. McEneny, Aaron Novak.
Music by Lucas Syed; Directed by John P. McEneny; Original music by Lucas Syed.
59E59 Theater’s East of Edinburgh and C Venues at the Edinburgh Fringe.
Winner of the Star Bobby Award at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival August 2013